Method for providing additional information to a telephone customer having a non-published telephone number

ABSTRACT

A method and system for notifying a non-published customer of a telephone network the number and possibly the identity of callers who have been attempting to obtain their non-published number from directory assistance. When a calling party calls for directory assistance, it is determined whether the telephone number sought is a non-published. If so, the call is forwarded to a service package application on a service node where at least a telephone number, and preferably also the name, of the calling party is obtained. A notification call is then placed to the non-published customer and the customer is provided with at least the telephone number and possibly the name of the calling party.

This application is a divisional application of U.S. Ser. No.09/484,165, filed Jan. 18, 2000.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is directed to telephone network directoryassistance services and more particularly to providing, to a telephonenetwork user who has a non-published telephone number, information aboutwho has attempted to obtain their telephone number via directoryassistance.

2. Background of the Invention

Because of the desire for privacy, many telephone company customerschoose not to have their telephone numbers published in a printed oron-line telephone directory. These customers also often request thattheir telephone numbers not be made available via a telephone networkdirectory assistance service (often accessible in the United States bydialing 411) provided by the telephone company. Accordingly, suchcustomers, generally known as “non-published customers,” have prohibitedthe dissemination of their telephone numbers by the telephone networks,such that only the non-published customers can provide those telephonenumbers.

While the privacy features of non-published numbers have certainadvantages, non-published customers may be unwittingly missing importantor desirable telephone calls. For example, a non-published customermight not receive desirable telemarketing calls, or personal calls fromfriends or relatives who do not know the non-published customer'stelephone number. Thus, a non-published customer may fail to receive allof the telephone calls that he/she may actually want to receive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an improvement to telephone networks andmore specifically to the service provided to non-published customers ofthe telephone network. The present invention provides a method andsystem for providing information to a non-published customer about thecaller who has requested directory assistance for the non-publishednumber.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, whena caller dials directory assistance and asks for the telephone number ofa non-published customer, the call is forwarded to a Service Node (SN)in the telephone network. The SN preferably has a Service PackageApplication (SPA) that answers the call and attempts to automaticallygather the caller's telephone number and, if possible, the caller's namevia a lookup table. The SPA then plays an announcement to the callersimilar to a conventional announcement that is played when a telephonenumber is unavailable because it is non-published. In an alternativeembodiment, particularly useful if the caller's telephone number cannotbe easily obtained, the caller is asked to record his/her name andtelephone number and the SPA stores this information for playback.

After the caller hangs up, and if the SPA was able to obtain at leastthe caller's telephone number, the SN places a notification call to thenon-published customer and plays an announcement informing thenon-published customer of the telephone number of the caller who hadrequested directory assistance. If the SPA was able also to identify thename of the caller, that information would also be read to thenon-published customer using text-to-speech techniques. If the callerhad recorded his/her identification information then that information isplayed back to the non-published customer. Thus, in accordance with thepresent invention, the non-published customer can learn who has beentrying to contact him/her and decide whether to call the caller back.

Further in accordance with the present invention, the SN preferably asksthe non-published customer whether to release their telephone number tothe caller. If the non-published customer gives the properauthorization, the SN places a call to the caller's telephone number andprovides the originally-requested information, namely the non-publishedcustomer's telephone number.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the SN itself givesthe non-published customer the opportunity to immediately call thecaller back, thereby eliminating the need for the non-published customerto hang up and place a new call, assuming the non-published customerdesires to immediately contact the caller.

In still another embodiment of the present invention, the SN does notwait for the caller to hang up before calling the non-publishedsubscriber, but instead notifies the caller that the number he/she isseeking is non-published and to hold while the non-published customer iscalled and a request is made of the non-published customer, based on thecaller's telephone number (and possibly the caller's name as well), torelease the non-published telephone number or immediately connect thecall. This particular embodiment provides a valuable real-time telephonecall screening method.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a methodof providing information to a non-published customer about a callerrequesting the non-published customer's telephone number from directoryassistance.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide, to anon-published customer, at least the telephone number and preferablyalso the name of the caller requesting directory assistance for thenon-published customer's telephone number.

It is also an object of the present invention to give a non-publishedcustomer the opportunity to authorize the release of his/her telephonenumber to a caller who has called directory assistance.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a callbackfunction to a caller attempting to obtain a telephone number of anon-published customer and provide the requested telephone number.

It still another object of the present invention to (i) automaticallycontact a non-published customer upon receiving a directory assistancerequest from a caller for the non-published customer's telephone number,(ii) provide the caller's telephone number, and preferably also thecaller's name, to the non-published customer and (iii) obtain consent toset up a telephone connection between the caller and the non-publishedcustomer.

It is still a further object of the present invention to provideinformation to a non-published customer indicative of the number oftimes the non-published customer's telephone number has been requestedfrom directory assistance.

These and other objects of the present invention will become apparentupon a reading of the detailed description below in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system for implementing thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a telephone network systemfor implementing a preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1shows a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 100 that is connectedto a central office (CO) 110 of the telephone network. When a caller 101calls for directory assistance over PSTN 100, e.g., by dialing 411, CO110 connects the call to a directory assistance node 120 where operatorsare available to assist the caller.

In the case of a regularly listed telephone number, an operator atdirectory assistance node 120 provides the requested number to thecaller. Where, for privacy reasons, a telephone customer has chosen tobe a non-published customer, the caller is typically notified that thetelephone number that is sought is non-published and the call isdisconnected. However, in accordance with the present invention, when itis determined that the caller is seeking a non-published telephonenumber, the call is forwarded (either manually or via well-known callforwarding techniques) to a telephone number that points to service node(SN) 130 having deployed therein a Service Package Application (SPA)140, which together provide the functionality of the present invention.While the use of a SN/SPA combination to implement the present inventionis preferred, the present invention can be implemented using otherapparatus that can provide the functionality described herein.

First Embodiment

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the functionality of a firstembodiment of the present invention. At step 200, a call is received bydirectory assistance from a calling party. At step 202 it is determinedwhether the requested telephone number is non-published. If therequested telephone number is available to the public, then at step 204the telephone number is provided to the calling party as isconventional. However, if the telephone number is non-published then, atstep 206, the calling party's call is forwarded to SPA 140 on SN 130.SPA 140 preferably then attempts to obtain at least one and preferablytwo pieces of information, as shown in step 208. Specifically, SPA 140first attempts to obtain the calling party's telephone number. This canbe accomplished using well-known caller ID techniques. Of course, if thecalling party has “blocked” the caller ID function on his telephone,then it may not be possible for SPA 140 to automatically obtain thecalling party's telephone number. In an alternative implementation, SPA140 requests that the caller record his/her name and telephone number.If a recording is a made then the process continues as described below.

Assuming the calling party's telephone number is obtained, then also atstep 208, SPA 140 attempts to obtain the calling party's name via alookup table (not shown), such as a reverse telephone book. Once theavailable information is obtained, then at step 210 an announcement isplayed notifying the calling party that the requested telephone numberis non-published. The call is preferably disconnected at this point.However, the call may alternatively be disconnected immediately afterobtaining the calling party's telephone number, since it is generallynot necessary to keep the calling party connected while using the lookuptable. Of course, announcement of step 212 is still played for thecaller.

At step 212, it is determined whether the calling party's telephonenumber has been obtained. If not (for example, because the callingparty's caller ID function was blocked or because the calling partynumber was unknown), the process ends. However, in an alternativeembodiment (not shown) of the present invention, even if neither thecalling party's telephone number nor name has been obtained, SPA 140 maynevertheless record that an attempt was made to obtain the non-publishedcustomer's telephone number. Information regarding how many times arequest has been made of directory assistance for a telephone number maybe valuable to a non-published customer. This information is preferablymade available to the non-published customer via additional informationon a monthly bill, via a special telephone number accessible only to thenon-published customer, via voice mail for customers who have a voicemail account on the telephone network or via an automatic callbackmethod, similar to that described below.

If at least the calling party's telephone number has been obtained then,at step 214, SN 130 places a notification telephone call to thenon-published customer. Preferably the notification call is attemptedimmediately after it is determined that at least the calling party'stelephone number was obtained. However, the notification call could bedelayed if desired. For instance, the calling party may have attemptedto obtain the non-published customer's telephone number late at night.Accordingly, under such circumstances, it is desirable to delay placingthe notification call to the non-published customer until a moreconvenient hour.

At step 216, when the non-published customer answers the telephone, anannouncement is played indicating that a request for the non-publishedcustomer's telephone number has recently been made via directoryassistance. Then, the calling party's telephone number is announced byrecorded human voice or digital-to-analog techniques. If the name of thecalling party was also obtained, then the name is also announced to thenon-published customer, using text-to-speech techniques which are knownby those skilled in the art. In the alternative embodiment describedabove, the number of times the non-published telephone number has beenrequested may also be announced at this time. Optionally, a notificationcall could be made just to notify the non-published customer of thenumber of times a request for his/her telephone number has been made.

Thus, in accordance with the present invention, non-published customersof the telephone company are automatically provided information aboutcallers who are trying to reach them via directory assistance. Withoutthe method and system of the present invention, non-published customersare unaware of who is attempting to obtain their telephone number and/orunable to determine how often their telephone number has been requested.

Second Embodiment

A second embodiment of the present invention adds further functionalityto the first embodiment described above. In the second embodiment, afterthe calling party's telephone number (and preferably also name) havebeen read to the non-published customer, SPA 140 asks, via a prerecordedannouncement or other audio technique, for authorization to release thenon-published telephone number to the calling party. Authorization canbe provided by pressing the “#” key, for example, on the telephonekeypad. If no authorization is given, nothing further occurs.

However, if authorization is given to release the non-publishedtelephone number, then SN 130 automatically places a telephone call tothe calling party and announces that the non-published customer hasauthorized release of his or her number. SPA 140 then reads thetelephone number to the calling party. The calling party may then placehis or her own call back to the non-published customer.

Third Embodiment

In an alternative, or even cumulative, embodiment to the secondembodiment described above, the third embodiment of the presentinvention provides automatic call set up between the non-publishedcustomer and the calling party. Specifically, after the telephone numberand preferably the name of the calling party have been provided to thenon-published customer, the non-published customer is asked by SPA 140(via a pre-recorded announcement or the like) whether he/she would liketo call the calling party. An affirmative response can be provided by,for example, pressing the “*” key on the telephone set. If the answer isaffirmative, then SPA 140 places a call to the calling party and, oncethe calling party's telephone begins to ring, connects the non-publishedcustomer to this call and removes itself from the circuit. Specifically,SPA 140 places a call to the calling party using what is commonly knownas a “blind transfer.” That is, as soon as the SN 130 detects ringingsupervision, the call is transferred from SN 130 to the appropriate CO.Both the incoming and outgoing ports on SN 130 are freed at this point.

This third embodiment provides the significant advantage that thenon-published customer still need not divulge his/her telephone numberto the calling party. And as long as the non-published customer hasblocked the caller ID function on his/her telephone, the originalcalling party will still not learn the non-published customer'stelephone number.

Fourth Embodiment

In a fourth embodiment of the present invention, instead of SPA 140disconnecting the calling party after announcing that the telephonenumber sought is non-published as described in the first embodiment, thecalling party is given an announcement that the telephone number beingsought is non-published, but to “hold” while the non-published customeris contacted. The fourth embodiment of the present invention is shownschematically in the flow chart of FIG. 3. Steps 300-308 are identicalto steps 200-208 of the first embodiment and thus need not be describedagain.

At step 310 in the present embodiment, the calling party is told thatthe number requested is non-published, but to hold for possible furtherinformation. If at step 312 no calling party information was obtained,then at step 318 it is announced that no further information isavailable. This step might be invoked if the calling party had blockedcaller ID thereby precluding SPA 140 from learning the identity of thecalling party.

If, on the other hand, calling party information was obtained at step308, i.e., the caller is identified, a call is placed to thenon-published customer notifying the customer that a request for thecustomer's number has been made, and that the calling party is now onhold. The calling party's information is then read to the non-publishedcustomer at step 316 and then, at step 320, SPA 140 asks thenon-published customer whether his/her number should be released orwhether he/she would like the call connected. The non-published customerpreferably indicates his/her choice using predetermined keys on his/hertelephone set. If the non-published customer chooses to have thetelephone number released, SPA 140 preferably disconnects thenon-published customer, notifies the calling party of the non-publishedtelephone number, and then disconnects the call. If the non-publishedcustomer chooses to have the call connected then SPA 140 connects thenon-published customer with the calling party who is on hold.Specifically, SN 130, when receiving the calling party's incoming call,attaches a voice port to that call. This way, he calling party can hearthe announcements being played by SPA 140 on SN 130. When the outgoingcall is made to the non-published customer, a different voice port isused for playing announcements to the non-published customer. If thenon-published customer chooses to connect with the calling party, SPA140 joins the incoming line with the outgoing line. This allows thecaller and the non-publihsed customer to communicate with each other.Spa 140 can, at this point, remove the voice ports since no furtherannouncements are to be played. The call will be held on SN 130 untilone of the parties hangs up, at which point the incoming and outgoinglines on SN 130 are freed. Of course, as explained above, the call fromSPA 140 to the non-published customer can be delayed to avoid telephonecalls at inappropriate times.

Further, with each of the embodiments of the present invention describedherein, the non-published customer preferably controls, via a soft keyon his/her telephone set, for example, whether the functionalitydescribed herein is to be enabled. That is, the non-published customermay not want to be disturbed at all for certain periods of time and mayaccordingly disable the notification call function for those periods.

Thus, the present invention offers an important service to anon-published customer. Specifically, a non-published customer, inaccordance with the present invention, is able to learn who has beentrying to contact them via directory assistance. Further, the presentinvention provides additional functionality wherein the telephonecompany or other service provider automatically provides the requestedtelephone number to a calling party only after receiving authorizationto do so. Further still, if desired, the non-published customer can beconnected to the calling party either in real time, while the callingparty is waiting on the line, or at a later time. Accordingly, thepresent invention provides an assortment of improved features fornon-published customers of a telephone network.

Although described with respect to a traditional telephone network, thepresent invention is equally applicable to internet telephony systems orother communications systems where an address, telephone number or otherdata might be non-published, or generally unavailable to the public atlarge.

Also, although the preferred embodiments described herein indicate thatthe information obtained, i.e., the calling party telephone number andname, is announced or read to the non-published customer, thisinformation may also be provided electronically and viewed, for example,on a monitor or on a telephone display. Under such circumstances, the“notification call” of the present invention is an electronic transferof data from the telephone company or other service provider to anon-published customer data terminal, either a computer or telephonedisplay such as the displays used for caller ID. Thus, the non-publishedcan see, rather than hear the gathered information.

The foregoing disclosure of embodiments of the present invention andspecific examples illustrating the present invention has been presentedfor purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed.Many variations and modifications of the embodiments described hereinwill be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art in light of theabove disclosure. The scope of the invention is to be defined only bythe claims appended hereto, and by their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for providing information to establish atelephone connection between a non-published customer and a callingparty, comprising the steps of: (a) receiving a directory assistancerequest from the calling party for a non-published telephone numberassociated with the non-published customer; (b) determining a telephonenumber associated with the calling party; (c) informing thenon-published customer of the calling party's telephone number; and (d)placing a call to the calling party to inform the calling party of thetelephone number associated with the non-published customer, wherein thecall is placed only after receiving authorization from the non-publishedcustomer.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining aname of the calling party and informing the non-published customer ofthe name.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising announcing to thecalling party that the directory assistance request is for anon-published telephone number.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising delaying the step of informing the non-published customer ofthe calling party's telephone number.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising placing a call to the non-published customer to perform step(c).